Spotify's Top 50 chart leaves no doubt that the dominance of English-language songs is becoming a thing of the past. The chart now includes tracks in no fewer than 16 languages, and the presence of non-English songs is growing at breakneck speed, having doubled since 2020.
For many people, stepping outside English, especially when it is their mother tongue, is a complicated step. But, as the slogan of a popular snack brand puts it, 'once you pop, you can't stop'. Music is perhaps the most pleasurable gateway into other languages and cultures. It is no coincidence that enrolments in Spanish have shot up on Duolingo, or that K-pop has sparked an unprecedented boom in learning Korean. Music opens up whole worlds.
